Sunday, April 24, 2016

Backspace: A Poem

Today is a special day. Nearly two years ago, I started Word Storm, and this, my friends, is my
50th post! Woohoo!

I’d like to thank my mom for getting me that book on
journalism that started me on blogging, my friend Sarah for encouraging me to
start a new blog, my fellow-blogger and critique partner Faith, and all of my
lovely readers. So thank you for putting up with my crazy book-ish ramblings
thus far.

Due to excessive coursework, I’m going to take next month
off blogging. *gasp* How could I? Stated simply, I have to write two major
essays and a dissertation (a.k.a. a master’s thesis). In all, these assignments
amount to nearly 25,000 words and have the same amount of stress as your
average NaNoWriMo project, if not more. But I have a special post already written
and hope to see you back for my regulars posts in June.

And now, for a poem. This one’s pretty simple. I wrote it
for fun one day when contemplating one of the most-pressed keys on the keyboard.
Whether you’re a writer by trade, a find-and-peck expert, or someone who
occasionally uses a computer, you’ve likely encountered this key before…

Backspace

A writer’s favorite key with a very
distinctive sound;don’t you just adore the moments
you’re watching a moviewith a writer at work, and you hear
the unmistakable clickof a backspace? How do you know? Is
it the twisted angeror the constant pound Pound. POUND.
POUND! POUND!all in succession that gives it
away. Let me hand out this particular key like a prankster
passes out pins ina theme park to pop children’s
balloons—pop Pop. POP. POP! POP!—first it’s startling, terrifying,
the imminent destructionof hard-earned, cheek-blown rubber
destroyed in a matterof seconds. It’s like running up the
down escalator—with each brilliant idea comes
twenty regretstumbling one after the other all
dragging you down, down, down.Remember the time you tripped up the
stairs and bruised your knee?Yep, that’s the humiliation of the
Backspace, erasing your splendid, stupid
thoughts.

***

What was your worst run-in with the
backspace? What's been your favorite post from this blog so far?